It has been a mixed week in a mixed season for Tottenham Hotspur Football Club.

In many ways, that has been the story of Spurs’ season – two steps forward, followed by one step back.

The highs of a north London derby triumph over arch-rivals Arsenal last Saturday were countered three days later by a potentially costly defeat to fellow top-four hopefuls Liverpool.

They started the campaign promisingly enough, but Mauricio Pochettino took longer than he would have liked to get his philosophy across and his side looked almost confused at times by what they were being asked to do.

Liverpool’s Mario Balotelli has scored 2 goals in 14 appearances; this is a very poor record for a player that cost the Premier League club €16 million, that money could have been spent on signing a more consistent player but this risk was well known to Brendan Rodgers as the manager was well aware of he what he was doing once he signed the Italian attacker who has not helped fill in the gap that was left by Luis Suarez.

There are few Premier League teams who will have welcomed this weekend's break from league action more than Roberto Martinez's Everton side.

Now down in 13th place in the table having lost their last four Premier League encounters, Everton have enjoyed the most miserable of Christmas periods and will be glad of the distraction that the FA Cup third round offers.

In the aftermath of Liverpool's dramatic 2-2 draw with Arsenal at the weekend, Brendan Rodgers claimed that his side were capable of making the Premier League top four by the end of the season.

Whilst this may sound farfetched, and betfair punters could expect to get long odds on the reds rising up from 10th position into the Champions League places, a quick look at the Premier League table shows that all is to play for.